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 ichael Michieli not only holds the National Collection of verbena but also runs Ashfield Court Nurseries in Somerset. Verbena x hybrida is a perennial usually treated as an annual in the British climate. It will make a patch of flower with an eighteen inch spread and weave a few of its stems up among the lower branches of roses or other thinly foliaged shrubs. 'Raspberry Crush' and 'Peaches and Cream' are suitably named to describe the colour of the flowers, while 'Showtime' is much - brighter. 'Blaze' is for the gardener in need of yet a stronger fix. Verbena 'Blue Moon' - which is a lavender blue with a tiny white eye - has been bred to give a greater proportion of flower over leaf. |
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| Two classic verbenas, 'Sissinghurst' and 'Silver Anne' are indispensable in mixed borders where white or a soft pink are required. Both have been endowed with the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit, and are not difficult to find in nurseries and garden centres. |
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Mr Michieli has selected a number of interesting and showy varieties and put them together as collections. His French Collection includes 'La France' (a tough and vigorous plant), 'Aveyron', a paler pink, 'Claret' (from the south of France) and 'Pink Parfait' (trailing, with deep rose, light pink and cream flowers).
Another Ashfield collection devotes itself to historical varieties (including the vervain beloved of Victorians) and the long standing favourite, Verbena corymbosa 'Cravetye', a strong grower with purple mauve flowers.
The ultimate verbena, is Verbena bonariensis, from South America (bonariensis is a Latinisation of Buenos Aires), and is a species unlike any other. It is perhaps the tallest of any slimline plant that you can have for the garden. |
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 ith the ability to rise six feet by September, it produces small bobbles of purple trumpet shaped flowers in tight clusters, similar to the massed clusters of a buddleja. The plant has so few leaves, and the branching stems are so thin, that, at times, according to the light, you could be forgiven for thinking that the flowers themselves are levitating over their border companions. Happily, Verbena bonariensis seeds about in a mild mannered way.
At dusk, these verbenas acquire a richness of colour that singles them out for attention, and seen against late season grasses with, perhaps, the last flowering thalictrum, crocosmia and echinacea, they help to paint a picture that will stay fresh in the mind during the coming winter. |
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